Summer in Cyprus: Sweltering, Spraying, and Staying Indoors

Holiday brochures advertise Cyprus with 'sun, sea and surf' (or similar). Which is all very well for visitors, staying in hotels by the beach for a week or two. But when one lives in Cyprus, it's not quite so simple... 

June this year was - by Cyprus standards - reasonably cool. Warm enough that we didn't need to wear anything other than tee shirts and shorts. I switched from trainers to sandals, too, or flip-flops... I much prefer wearing trainers and socks but strongly dislike having over-warm sweaty feet. 

By the end of May we had started using our bedroom ceiling fan at night, and some of the other ceiling fans in the daytime, as needed. But through the whole of June there was no need for air conditioning, even for the computers. With windows open, a pleasant breeze cooled the house through the day. 

Then we spent twelve days in the UK, as I wrote about in another post. It was busy, and productive, and - for me, at any rate - a wonderful break, seeing many of the people I love the most. We arrived back in Larnaka after 10pm on July 12th and while it was warm - I had removed my coat and sweater before leaving the plane - it wasn't unpleasantly so. I was particularly pleased that it didn't feel humid, since we had to spend about ten minutes standing on the steps of the plane waiting for the bus to the terminal. 

Sweltering...

Reality hit home in the morning. I didn't wake up until about 7.30am, and it was already thirty degrees outside, according to my phone's weather app. But although I was tired, I knew I had to get to the froutaria for some oranges and other fruit for our breakfast. So I went out, keeping mainly in the shade. It was probably good to get some fresh air and sunshine first thing, but I don't think I appreciated it much. 

That was the start of a heatwave that lasted two weeks, breaking all kinds of records. Most of the southern part of Europe experienced something similar. Then a couple of days that were more normal, for Cyprus in July, and then there was another high temperature warning for the next few days.

'How do you cope?' This is a question I'm asked regularly. I've never been good with hot temperatures, and I know from experience that if I'm outside in the sunshine, or if temperatures are more than about 30C at most, I really don't 'cope'. I become slow, lethargic, and often develop a migraine. 

So over the years in Cyprus I've developed a kind of summer routine. While I often try to be out of Cyprus for a few weeks, there are always some hot summer days when I'm here. I used to say that I do everything I need to do before 8am, then 'aestivate' until the evening. I don't actually go to sleep, but I don't leave the house, if at all possible. I shop locally first thing, and if we have to go to a bigger supermarket, we go in the evening rather than the daytime. 

Spraying

One of the things I like least about Cyprus summers is the increased insect population. Not mosquitoes - they are worse in the spring and autumn, and we mostly avoid those in the house by having netting over open windows. No, my 'bête noire' is, literally, a black beast whose name I still slightly shudder to mention.  (Whispering): Cockroaches.  

I had hoped that by having our house connected to the mains drainage there would be fewer - certainly we have fewer access chambers in our side yard, and the lids fit much better. But a neighbouring house was having a lot of major renovations and for the last couple of weeks of June, and most of July, we had at least one of these nasty beasties in the house every day.  Mostly deceased, I'm relieved to say. Some caught by the cats, and some stunned by the 'biokill' spray. I use that liberally around all possible entrances and as many hiding places as I can think of. 

I did this as soon as the first one appeared in June, and again just before we went away. Then I repeated the process at the end of July.  Thankfully there have been fewer since August started.  

Salads

One feature of the last few years has been eating a lot of salads; not just lettuce and tomatoes but a wide variety of different salads, inspired by both cookery books and online sites. This, for instance, is a sardine and lentil-based salad: 

From July 1st until at least August 31st, I don't turn on the oven. Originally I determined to do all the food preparation first thing in the morning, but that hasn't happened this year. It's mostly in the half hour or so before we eat. 

After lunch on Sundays we have, for a couple of years, eaten dark chocolate Bounty bars - not entirely dairy-free but low-enough in dairy that they're not a problem for Richard. 

We used to buy these in airports before flying back to Cyprus, then for a while they were available here. Nearly two years ago, we mentioned this to some friends who were soon to fly out, and they scoured their neighbourhood, bringing out over 40 of these bars, enough to last nearly a year. Here are just a few of them:

Alas, they were discontinued nearly a year ago. We didn't realise this, but were disappointed not to find any during our UK trip in January. We did look again earlier this month, but were not surprised to find them still unavailable. 

On the Sunday after we returned, we ate the last of our stash. Possibly the last dark chocolate Bounty in Cyprus... 

Celebration

A week after our return, we celebrated our anniversary. The heatwave was intense, and I didn't even want to go out in the evening. So we ordered a Lebanese takeaway, which was delicious: 

It was excellent value, too  Supposedly a vegetarian meze for two, it was twice as much as we could eat in one sitting, so it provided a second main meal the following day.  To make it even better value Richard had just been sent a seven euro discount voucher from Foody. 

Staying indoors

My aestivation might sound like a kind of lockdown, but it's not the same at all as the restrictions we were under three-and-a-half years ago. The main theoretical difference is that it's my decision, rather than being enforced by anyone else. Richard, who deals much better than I do with heat, has been out by car in the daytime many times to see people, or visit his boat, or pick something up at one of the DIY stores.

A major practical difference between my self-enforced aestivation and a lockdown is that there's no restriction on the people we see. A few weeks ago, we were invited to a young friend's 18th birthday dinner; it was the first time I'd been out in an evening since we returned from the UK, and the outside temperature was 36 degrees even at 5.30pm. I struggled to walk the short distance from the car to our friend's home, and was thankful it was not at lunchtime (as in previous years). 

However it was a very enjoyable evening, spent in our friends' air conditioned living room. 

Our friends continue to come for games mornings on Tuesdays, though during the summer we play in my study with the air conditioning on, sitting on the floor, rather than at the dining room table:

And another young friend, far more able to deal with the heat than I am, has been doing some repairs on the side of our house, where the surface spritz had been crumbling away. 

Steps

I don't want to lose the habit of daily walking. So I still aim to get out almost every morning at about 6am, if only to walk the 500 metres or so to the froutaria and back. On mornings when the temperature shows 30 degrees or more by 6am (and that's happened three or four times) that's more than enough. 

On mornings when it is only 24-25 degrees, I walk a couple of kilometres around the local neighbourhood. It's not a lot, but it gives me some fresh air and exercise, albeit limited. For the last few days our friends have been away and I've walked to their house shortly after 6am to feed their cats and (a couple of times) water their garden. Thankfully the temperature was only 26-28 by the time I was home again at around 7.30. 

During the less hot periods of the year - usually mid-September to late June - I walk an average of about 7,000 - 8,000 steps per day, or around 50,000 - 55,000 per week. When we were in London, walking all over the place, this continued. But at this time of year, I just about manage 30,000 in a week.  

I'm relieved to know, due to some recent research, that we only actually need around 2,500 steps per day (at a reasonable pace) to benefit our hearts and blood vessels, and around 4,000 to start reducing the risk of premature dying. More than that has a greater benefit, of course; but according to a Japanese study, the optimum number is around 5,000 - 7,000. That does talk about 'older people', and I'm not yet quite at the age they mention, but for me this is achievable. Much more is not. 

I'm trying to use my indoor air conditioned time productively: sorting and backing up photos, maintaining my websites, doing some filing, tidying up my folders, spending a bit longer at Duolingo. And reading a bit more than usual. August - so far - has been a tad cooler than July (which was apparently the hottest month ever recorded globally). The days are noticeably getting shorter and a month from now we might even be able to stop using the air conditioning.

As for the beach... we went there once with our grandchildren in April, It's been too hot to go there so far, this summer, and we haven't yet found a suitable evening to go with our friends. If we don't manage it this summer, I won't mind at all.  

Summer has arrived in Cyprus

I shouldn't have been surprised.  My Facebook 'memories' were full of reminders about Summer arriving in Cyprus in the middle of May.  Last year it happened on May 13th. But it had been a gradual process over the course of a few weeks.

This year we seem to have had quite a long and pleasant spring, even if most of it has been spent in lockdown mode. It has been sunny during the daytime, but cool enough to continue to wear jeans and - at least in the evenings - a sweater or light jacket. The heating hasn't triggered itself on since early March but we hadn't really noticed.

It's only three weeks since we moved from using our triple-thickness duvet to the double-thickness one. Last Saturday I did say that perhaps it was time to move from the double one to the 'light' 4.5 tog duvet, but Richard said no, he still wanted the warm one.  So I thought we'd keep that for another couple of weeks...

A week ago we were opening the windows that have fly-screens (to keep insects out and cats in) through most of the day, but closing them in the evenings. Each morning I pulled the curtains or blinds to let in as much sunshine.  I was still wearing long trousers and a long-sleeved top when I went out for a walk with my friend Sheila at 6.00am...

On Thursday, it felt a bit warmer first thing, and the day quickly warmed up, though not unpleasantly so. Now that most shops are open again, we decided to buy a few things we needed so we went out in the car for the first time in a while.

We had been convinced of the importance of Vitamin D in strengthening the immune system and giving protection against the more unpleasant effects of the coronavirus. It might seem unnecessary to take supplements in a sunny country like Cyprus, but once it gets really hot I will not be going out at all in the daytime. So our first stop was Holland and Barrett.

Then we went to Mr Bricolage, where Richard hoped to find some nuts and bolts which he needed for his boat. Alas, they didn't have the exact size he needed. But we did see that they had the water filter cylinders we use, at considerably lower cost than we have been paying. And they should have been changed at least a month ago. So we bought those. And at the check-outs we saw some cloth masks.

We had talked about making masks, and had been uncertain as to whether there is any point at all wearing non-surgical ones. The consensus seems to change regularly. But there are some shops or outside stalls where customers are asked to wear masks, and as these were both washable and fairly good value, we decided to buy some of those too.

Then on to Christou Bros where Richard found the nuts and bolts he needed (at the grand cost of a little over a euro for them all).  Then on to Shoebox, as my outdoor sandals, bought eight years ago, were wearing out. I realised that the children's section was likely to be best, and was pleased to find some sandals I liked, albeit not quite as sturdy-looking as my previous two pairs.

By this stage it was decidedly warm. We wanted to keep the 'tradition' started last year of having ice cream on the first day of summer (in our opinion). But all the ice cream places seemed to be closed. We had heard that an Italian one near where we live is open, but as we drove past we saw that it was closed. Perhaps it opens only in the evenings.

So we went home for a cool box and ice packs, then into FoodSaver, a frozen food market where, last summer, our son Tim discovered some delicious luxury dairy-free ice cream.

Thus we 'celebrated' the first day of summer in lockdown style at home:

I also got out the frappé machine for the first time this year, and made myself a frappé.

And because the temperature was predicted to rise, I did a bit of sorting in my closet. I put my jeans away, and found my shorts.  I also sorted out my reasonably respectable shirts and put away the large selection I have that have developed holes over the years, which I only wear under sweaters.

We started using our ceiling fans, too. And I remembered why we don't light candles at meals during the summer, although we have been doing so since Christmas. After the current candle had been blown out by a fan for the fourth time before we had even started eating, I decided that another feature of summer is to put away the candles.

Nothing prepared me for Friday. I don't walk with Sheila on Friday, but I've been going out for short walks on my own some mornings. I got up around 6.30am, and went outside to put my shoes on.  I felt such a rush of warmth that I wondered if I were developing a sudden fever. Then I looked at my phone. My weather app told me that it was 24 degrees already, due to be hotter still later on.

So I just watered the plants rather more thoroughly than I had been doing, and didn't stay out for long. By mid-morning it was well over 30 degrees. I didn't walk to the fruitaria for the week's fruit and vegetables; Richard drove me there.  In the evening we decided to go for a walk locally - just a couple of kilometres. We didn't go out until around 8pm and I nearly melted. It was still 31 degrees.

Later, I removed the medium duvet from the cover.  We might still need the thin one if it cools down a bit next week, but the cover on its own was just fine last night. We did think about cleaning the air conditioner in our bedroom but it was only 27.5 degrees and we run the a/c at 28, so there didn't seem to be much point.

This morning I wore my walking shorts for the first time to walk with Sheila, and still felt too hot.  We decided to clean the bedroom air conditioner in the morning so we could run it for a few minutes to get rid of the smell of the cleaning fluid before using it in the evening.

Then Richard cleaned the one in his study.

It doesn't take too long, but is important to do each year as there can be fungal growth over the winter.

We had been talking about replacing some of our air conditioning units this year, as new ones are so quiet and efficient, using very little electricity.  They're much better for the environment than older ones, too.  It seems, currently, that we'll probably be stuck here in Cyprus all summer and our computers can't work over about 30 degrees.  I feel ill if I get too hot.

In addition, the a/c unit in Richard's study is very noisy, and the one in my study doesn't always work, as well as being slightly broken.  We definitely don't want either of them to break down during the main part of summer, when there will likely be a dearth of units available, and we might have to wait a long time to have new ones fitted. Besides, there might be another lockdown, if the number of coronavirus cases starts to increase again once tourists are allowed into Cyprus.

So this morning we decided that if we were going to replace our air conditioners, it should be now. We went out mid-morning to George Theodorou, our favourite local white goods place, and ordered them.  Also, thanks to a recent generous gift, we decided to replace the old (at least 20 years old) and inefficient large one in our living room.

We went to a couple of other shops too, and by the time we got home I was almost dizzy with the heat and had to lie down for a while.

Summer is here.

Richard is happy about it.

I am not.



  

Family visiting Cyprus

It's almost four weeks since the family arrived in Cyprus after a few stressful weeks packing up the house and travelling, via relatives in the UK, to stay here. They were all exhausted when they got here, and it took a few days for the children to get into somewhat regular sleep patterns.

David, at three, no longer takes naps in the daytime, and Esther, at six months, just takes catnaps, and still usually wakes at least once in the night. She's teething, has just started solids, and has reached the stage of frustrating backwards crawling. She was very clingy with Becky when she arrived, too, and David quite stressed and anxious about all the changes.

I had already planned, before they arrived, to find as much time as possible to be with the children. I'm hardly doing any writing, or participating in forums, or doing anything with my websites while they're here. Emails are written in odd moments, and I've been uploading photos to Facebook every few days, but it's taken me over a week to find the time and energy to write this blog post.

With the increasing heat, we're all quite tired - other than David, who seems to have vast reserves of energy - and inevitably have to spend at least the hottest part of the days indoors. I'm delighted to discover that David has an almost endless capacity for books, so we're all reading aloud to him, everything from simple picture books through to early chapter books with line drawings, such as Mrs Pepperpot and Winnie-the-Pooh.

Still, we seem to have done a fair amount of other things - a few highlights below.

On one of the first days, Richard and I took David out to the local park where he enjoyed climbing and digging in the dirt as well as the standard slides and roundabouts.

He's been to some Little Muse presentations and drama sessions (the last one before the summer break is today, giving me an hour to myself) and enjoyed doing some painting there:

Great excitement ensued when he went sailing with his Daddy and Grandpa:

Richard has been very busy with work in the past few weeks, so there haven't been any more opportunities for sailing, but they hope to do that again soon.

We've been to the beach a couple of times, although it's so hot that we can't really go before about 4.30pm at the earliest:

David's third birthday was a very important occasion, and Becky created a wonderful 'digger' cake:

One of his birthday gifts was a paddling pool, which has provided a great deal of entertainment:

We found a second-hand bike at the thrift store, and a helmet, and he's ridden that in an area Richard cleared in our side yard, although, again, it's really too hot to ride much:

Another gift (bought with birthday money) was a sandpit, which he likes very much indeed:

The shop where the sandpit was bought didn't have any play sand in stock, so after some research we discovered the Larnaka Early Learning Centre shop, which not only had sand, but let us know that on Tuesday afternoons they have play sessions for toddlers and young children, with plenty of toys and other activities available. So David's been to a couple of those:

We haven't managed many board games; they're not possible in the daytime, for obvious reasons, and by the evenings we're often too tired to do anything. But we've had a few, sitting outside the guest flat, as it hasn't - yet - been too humid:

Daniel and Becky's closest friends came out to stay for a week, too, which was very enjoyable for them all, and they managed to play games most evenings.

David's enthusiasm and exuberance are quite tiring for those of us who are more introverted, but they also mean that almost anything can be fun for him. Even a trip to the supermarket became a great adventure when he was able to drive the trolley for us:

Esther, meanwhile, is quieter, and more placid. She's very taken with a set of plastic balls which we bought a few years ago, before David visited for the first time. She can sit by herself but topples over if she turns suddenly, so we made a mini ball pool for her, in a plastic box, and she was contented for quite some time:

David is interested in building, mechanics and pipework, so Daniel bought some plumbing bits, and we've made various constructions for David to experiment with. One of his favourite activities is pouring water down a funnel, and seeing where it comes out:

He can concentrate for a long time, adjusting the pieces and trying again when connections break, or when water comes out in unexpected places. I tried to explain that it would pour out of the lowest available gap in whatever system we built, and he seemed to understand. He exemplifies the concept of learning through play!

A local friend told us about a park that's much nicer than the two local ones; it took us a while to locate it, behind St George's Church, but finally we found an afternoon to take David there. Unfortunately it's not open all the time, and has almost no shade until the late afternoon... but still, it's a wonderful park and we hope to go there again:

The family are here for another two months, and the weather is going to be hotter and much more humid, so we're going to look at the two recommended indoor play places that aren't too far away, and make the effort to go to the beach a bit more often.

We didn't move to Cyprus until our sons were nine and eleven, so we never had to find places to entertain very young children in the summer. By the time we moved, they were old enough to play outside safely by themselves (we had a huge garden in our rental house) and were also happy to sit inside during the hottest part of the day, reading books, or at the computer, or otherwise occupied with Lego or music or some other activity.

I am loving being an active grandma of a three-year-old, although I'm getting a lot more tired than I did when I was 27 years younger and had a three-year-old of my own.  

Summer heat-wave and forest fires in Cyprus

I mentioned at the end of my last post that we started using our air conditioners on Friday, very thankful that we had them cleaned in advance. It's not unusual to become warm enough for air conditioning towards the end of June (anything over 30C counts) and occasionally we've had heatwaves this early in the year, but they're not usually as lengthy as the one which the island is still coping with.

This brief article about Cyprus in summer, written nearly a week ago, explains that the usual temperatures for this time of year are around 35C inland, and just over 30C at the coast. However there was a low pressure system, and it was a great deal hotter already, with predictions of 41C inland by Tuesday.

All of which is inconvenient, but I am very grateful for the ability - mostly - to keep cool. Far worse are the horrendous forest fires which are blazing in parts of the mountains of Cyprus. Started by careless people burning rubbish, over 15 square km of land has been destroyed, and at least two fire-fighters have lost their lives.

Fires are still raging, and volunteers are being asked to help, as it spreads towards some of the villages. Aeroplanes from Cyprus and several other countries are using sea-water to quench the flames; inevitably the salt will damage the forests further.

Back to everyday life... I didn't get my walk by the Salt Lake last Saturday, due to Alex being stuck on a neighbouring balcony, and yesterday I didn't wake until nearly 6.00. It already felt warm by then; but I wanted to see how empty the lake had become, so suggested Sheila and I walk at least a little way.

Last year was cooler overall with quite a wet winter, but we haven't had nearly so much rain this year, and Summer has come earlier. So this is what we saw:

There's still a little water some way out, but if this heat continues, it will have dried out entirely by the end of June.

I was struck by how very tall some of the weeds had become. Sheila kindly agreed to be in the photo too, to give an idea of scale:

They're already looking brown, however, as is much of the other foliage.

We walked less than a kilometre, and I was already feeling too hot. We still had to go and feed my son's cat, as he was in the UK, so we made our way back; it was probably a bad idea to go at all as I felt very headachey by lunch-time, and unbelievably tired.

Our house is much cooler than outside but the thermometer on the kitchen scales was showing 32C by 8.00 in the morning.  I realised that although the humidity is still relatively low, it's a problem that the heatwave has come early, as it's the Summer Solstice period, meaning it's light before 5am, so the sun warms everything up much earlier than it does in August, when we expect higher temperatures.

The heatwave is predicted to continue for at least another week. The humidity is 'only' at around 39% at present, which means that evenings and nights are not as unpleasant as they can feel in July. But even 39% humidity means that the temperatures feel hotter than they actually are. According to this chart, we're at 'yellow' alert (great discomfort) as far as heatstroke and other dangers are concerned. Inland, where the temperatures are due to rise to 40C or higher, it will be 'orange' alert, defined as dangerous.

So as far as possible I am estivating.

Coping with the heat in Cyprus

We had a heatwave this week. Temperatures in the shade reached as much as 42C, so were a great deal hotter in the sun. Somebody photographed a digital thermometer in Nicosia, in direct sunlight, showing 57C on Tuesday.

Thankfully this kind of excessive heat is rare, and by Wednesday the temperature had dropped to a more normal 34C. It's made worse because it's very humid. July was remarkably dry; it didn't even get too hot until the middle of the month. August is making up for it. Last Friday, the last day of July, we had some early morning rain - sufficient to produce a puddle on the metal balcony outside one of our doors:

By Sunday, the humidity had arrived in force.

People regularly ask how we 'cope'. I'm the kind of person who's most comfortable at around 20C; I've acclimatised in our years here to the extent that I no longer feel that 25 is unbearably hot; when we run the air conditioning, we set it to 28C and that feels wonderfully cool when it's hotter in the rest of the house and outside.

But we don't run air conditioning all over the house; we just use it in rooms we're using: for an hour or two in the bedroom before going to sleep, in any room where a computer is on, and - if it's unpleasantly hot and humid - when we're eating, or watching a DVD, or playing a board game. I try to do any cleaning or other housework first thing, before 8am, then I have my shower and estivate with the air conditioning in my study.

A shower is a good way of cooling down; sometimes I have another cold shower before going to bed. If we weren't using air conditioning, I would probably have several every day.

Nipping out of my study into the heat for a few minutes isn't a problem, to hang out laundry, or get a drink of water, or even to have something to eat. But my biggest problem has always been food preparation in the heat. Any kind of cooking heats up the kitchen, and since everything takes so much longer in the heat and humidity, it was leaving me drained.

We usually have a bit of bread with cheese, or hummus, or similar for lunch, along with salad or cut up vegetables, or left-over cooked veg. But I have always cooked evening meals (other than Sundays), generally with hot vegetables too. I had made a lot of slow-cooked meals earlier in the year, freezing as much as I could, and we spent the first couple of weeks of July eating those; but they still needed the oven or hob to be on, and vegetables to be prepared and cooked, and side dishes such as rice or potatoes of some kind... and it was exhausting.

I started preparing quick meals - such as omelettes, or tomato sauce with spaghetti and grated cheese - but I still wanted vegetables to go with them. And we were running out of frozen meal portions.

So, a couple of weeks ago, Richard suggested doing no cooking at all until the end of August. I said I'd continue making Sunday lunches; Tim usually joins us, and since I don't use my main computer on Sundays, I tend to air condition the kitchen area. I thought I might cook a quick meal one evening per week, too... but, so far, I haven't.

Instead of cooking, we have eaten a lot of salad. We've cheated, and bought bags of pre-prepared leaves, which are more expensive than just buying lettuce, but have a great deal more variety in them. We've added cucumber, and peppers, and perhaps some grated carrot, or tomato, or nuts or seeds. We've made coleslaw too, and chopped up other random vegetables to eat raw. The healthiest kind of diet is supposed to be 75% raw and we've probably managed that in the last couple of weeks.

We've made sure to include some protein too - cold chicken from Sunday, or egg mayo (yes, I had to boil some eggs but that wasn't too difficult), or tuna mixed with ketchup and mayo, or lentil balls (which I cooked last Sunday).. but we haven't felt the need for any extra starches. There's plenty of carbohydrate in the vegetables.  We've eaten lots of fresh fruit, too, and made some fruit sorbets.

This evening, wanting something slightly different (and with some peaches in the fridge that were starting to get a little soft) I discovered a recipe for salad made of peaches and tomatoes which we both thought absolutely delicious:

To my surprise, neither of us has got bored of salads yet.... we'll see how long it lasts.

Our two kittens have coped with the heat by becoming nocturnal. They didn't go out alone until they were a year old; Alexander then discovered how to get up to our cat flap, and we eventually installed another one to allow Joan more freedom. They go out late evening, and - as far as we know - stay out all night. In the daytime, they collapse:

They don't usually want to be in an air conditioned room, but on Monday and Tuesday they were very glad to be somewhere that enabled them to cool down.

Cleo, by contrast, is loving the heat. She always has done. In Winter she sleeps on beds; in the Spring, for the last few years, she has looked as though she were on her last legs. She's 17 now, a very good age for a cat who goes out. But in the Summer, once again, she seems to have rallied:

Basically, I deal with summer one day at a time. I know it will last well into September, but the humidity should start to drop in a few weeks, and the likelihood of another heatwave will - I hope - reduce. I don't like the feeling of being housebound; I miss going for early morning walks, and feel the lack of exercise. But if I'm in the sun for more than a few minutes - or any excessive heat - I will develop a migraine.

So I stay indoors, venturing out as little as possible, unless we're going to the beach.

Thankful for so much - currently not in Cyprus

When we learned that our first grandchild was expected towards the end of May, I leapt at the thought of spending a few weeks out of Cyprus during the summer. And as it turns out, I'm particularly glad to have been in the UK for the past week because Cyprus had a heatwave so extreme that there were health warnings.

Meanwhile we've been in Carlisle for the past eleven days, getting to know David Emmanuel who is now three weeks and two days old, and getting very alert and interested in both faces and his surroundings. I am loving being a grandma.

So without further ado, here are a few photos of the past week or so.

Our first meeting, when I was still rather tired from our flights:

Reading to him, a couple of days later:

He thought 'The Gruffalo' was a bit scary, though, so we bought him some more appropriate books for his age:

We took the family to register his birth last week:

The Carlisle birth registry place is lovely, although the foyer is rather spookily filled with a large number of somewhat surreal models:

On Saturday we went for a walk in the nearby countryside:

With some sunshine, some cloud, and temperatures about 18-20C, even the weather (from my perspective) is perfect.